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Project Volume IV: What Works, What Matters, What Lasts

The PKAL Facilities Resource

For Project Kaleidoscope, the process of planning- be it for spaces or broader institutional efforts- begins with asking the right questions and with having the right people at the table in a timely manner as such 'right' questions are addressed. This is one of the key PKAL lessons learned that can inform the work of institutional planning teams- be they focusing on planning spaces or programs, budgets or faculty development efforts. The process of questioning also highlights two other over-arching key lessons learned that are relevant for teams charged with planning new spaces for science. The first is that building community should be seen as a goal both for the process of planning and the product of planning; the second is that there is a broader community of peers whose experience and expertise can inform and advance the work of local teams.

A central thread through all of these is that the process, from asking questions to seeking and sharing expertise, should reflect a sure sense of institutional mission and identity. The following questions, adapted from PKAL Volume III: Structures for Science, illustrate one approach to linking institutional and facilities planning.

When was the last time we revisited, revised, or reaffirmed our institutional vision, in the context of our institutional mission and circumstances?

What are our institutional priorities in regard to student learning in STEM fields? How have those priorities have been determined?

Do we have a current academic plan? Does it visibly reflect our mission? Is it compatible with our understanding of the future in which our students will live and work?

Do the changes we envision for the sciences fit within our mission and our current academic plan? Do they reflect a common understanding of findings from cognitive science about how people learn and how those findings can influence how we shape programs, pedagogies, and spaces?

Does our thinking about the future of the sciences for our community represent several independent visions or does it capture the sense of the community?

Community is the spirited enactment of the conviction that ideas are important, and that they gain life when people bring different perspectives to their consideration. Communities embrace a common vision, yet allow— even promote— difficult dialogues. This is the challenge to leaders, within the faculty and the administration, as your planning proceeds.

"What will the science of future be like?" This was one of the questions driving the planning of Jordan Hall of Science, the new facility for undergraduate science in biology, chemistry and physics at Notre Dame. Their recognition that "...imaging was becoming important in all of the sciences, that new technologies were making it possible to image everything from individual atoms to galaxies..." gave faculty a metaphor for their planning, one that influenced how they designed and equipped classrooms, hallways, laboratories, and Jordan's digital visualization theatre. But those planning these spaces also asked, "How do the students of today learn?" Their answers to that question are visible throughout— from the design of the large-enrollment classrooms to that of the lounges.

If, in 2000, you had the option to start from scratch— no courses, curriculum, or spaces— yet with the vision of guiding students to become truly integrative thinkers, to be able to move seamlessly between the world of engineering and the world of biology, what kind of learning environment would you have in place today?

Based on their theory of learning, that it should be situated and collaborative, Georgia Tech’s biomedical engineering faculty have achieved courses, program and space that engage students in authentic problem-solving, doing the kind of model-based reasoning that engineers do. In contrast with large classrooms where there is one whiteboard on which the professor displays what he or she knows, their PBL rooms are designed for groups of eight students–with wall-to-wall white boards. Here students can "go public," externalize and display what they are learning, and identify through that display what they do not yet know.

This seminar, in conjunction with the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIAA) and co-sponsored by Herman Miller, was part of a series of PKAL activities focusing on the relationship of space and learning. These questions and insights are being incorporated into planning for upcoming PKAL activities relating to planning facilities for undergraduate learners.

After more than a decade of significant activity in imagining, planning, constructing, and using new spaces for natural science communities on our nation’s campuses, it seemed prudent to step back, to ask if old questions are still relevant and what new questions are emerging. It seemed equally important to begin to gather thoughts of architects and other reflective practitioners from the design professional world about questions for the future.